Curated by:
Lists Available:
Other orbits:
Primary source of unclassified orbital elements
Orbital elements based on amateur observations | Sun-synchronous Satellites - Meteorology by LTDN
This a list of satellites in sun-synchronous orbit shown in the order they lie around the Earth. Names are not necessarily those by which they are known in the NORAD catalogue used by SpaceTrack.
It is a snapshot and is updated daily. The measure that results in an entry in this table is that the drift rate of LTDN (Local Time at the Descending Node) is no more than twenty four minutes each year. Some satellites may have higher drift rates but they may still be acceptable to their owners/operators. They do not appear here. On the converse, although a satellite is in a sun-synchronous orbit, it is not necessarily active.
Cubesats less than 6U in size are excluded from the list because the vast majority reached space by hitch hiking and their final orbit was not important. Listing them would create an unnecessarily long page.
The menu on the left leads to some, hopefully useful, sub-lists of the satellites on this page.
Updated: 2024 Apr 20, 02:48 UTC
LTDN |
Satellite |
Cat no |
Desig- nation |
Orbit Epoch |
Orbit |
00:02 | Nimbus 4 (Nimbus D) | 4362 | 1970-025A | 2024 Apr 19 | 1086 x 1098 km, 107.1 min, 100°.0 | 01:25 | NOAA 20 (JPSS, Joint Polar Satellite System 1) | 43013 | 2017-073A | 2024 Apr 19 | 826 x 828 km, 101.4 min, 98°.7 | 02:05 | Fengyun 3A (Fengyun 3-01) | 32958 | 2008-026A | 2024 Apr 19 | 823 x 834 km, 101.5 min, 98°.6 | 02:06 | ESSA 8 | 3615 | 1968-114A | 2024 Apr 19 | 1413 x 1464 km, 114.6 min, 101°.6 | 02:12 | NOAA 17 | 27453 | 2002-032A | 2024 Apr 19 | 798 x 816 km, 101.0 min, 98°.8 | 02:35 | AMS 4 (DMSP 5D-1 F-4) | 11389 | 1979-050A | 2024 Apr 19 | 788 x 804 km, 100.8 min, 98°.5 | 02:59 | Meteor M-1 | 35865 | 2009-049A | 2024 Apr 19 | 814 x 819 km, 101.2 min, 98°.6 | 03:43 | NOAA 5 (ITOS H) | 9057 | 1976-077A | 2024 Apr 19 | 1508 x 1524 km, 116.3 min, 102°.2 | 03:54 | USA 210 (DMSP 5D-3 F-18) | 35951 | 2009-057A | 2024 Apr 19 | 838 x 853 km, 101.8 min, 98°.8 | 04:26 | Fengyun 1B (Fengyun 1-02) | 20788 | 1990-081A | 2024 Apr 19 | 872 x 895 km, 102.6 min, 98°.9 | 04:35 | NOAA 10 | 16969 | 1986-073A | 2024 Apr 19 | 787 x 806 km, 100.8 min, 98°.6 | 04:59 | NOAA 12 | 21263 | 1991-032A | 2024 Apr 19 | 794 x 814 km, 101.0 min, 98°.6 | 05:37 | Fengyun 3E (Fengyun 3-05) | 49008 | 2021-062A | 2024 Apr 19 | 825 x 827 km, 101.4 min, 98°.7 | 05:40 | USA 249 (DMSP 5D-3 F-19) | 39630 | 2014-015A | 2024 Apr 19 | 838 x 851 km, 101.8 min, 98°.8 | 06:09 | USA 109 (DMSP 5D-2 F-13) | 23533 | 1995-015A | 2024 Apr 19 | 833 x 842 km, 101.7 min, 98°.8 | 06:16 | USA 191 (DMSP 5D-3 F-17) | 29522 | 2006-050A | 2024 Apr 19 | 836 x 852 km, 101.8 min, 98°.7 | 06:54 | NOAA 6 | 11416 | 1979-057A | 2024 Apr 19 | 769 x 785 km, 100.4 min, 98°.6 | 07:23 | NOAA 15 | 25338 | 1998-030A | 2024 Apr 19 | 795 x 811 km, 100.9 min, 98°.6 | 07:33 | USA 73 (DMSP 5D-2 F-11) | 21798 | 1991-082A | 2024 Apr 19 | 826 x 845 km, 101.6 min, 98°.8 | 08:30 | USA 131 (DMSP 5D-2 F-14) | 24753 | 1997-012A | 2024 Apr 19 | 832 x 845 km, 101.7 min, 98°.9 | 09:10 | USA 106 (DMSP 5D-2 S-12) | 23233 | 1994-057A | 2024 Apr 19 | 831 x 847 km, 101.7 min, 98°.8 | 09:23 | MetOp-B | 38771 | 2012-049A | 2024 Apr 19 | 819 x 821 km, 101.3 min, 98°.6 | 09:29 | MetOp-C | 43689 | 2018-087A | 2024 Apr 19 | 820 x 821 km, 101.3 min, 98°.7 | 10:39 | NOAA 18 | 28654 | 2005-018A | 2024 Apr 19 | 839 x 858 km, 101.9 min, 98°.9 | 13:12 | TIROS 10 | 1430 | 1965-051A | 2024 Apr 19 | 717 x 795 km, 99.9 min, 98°.4 | 14:10 | DMSP 5A F-2 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) | 3510 | 1968-092A | 2024 Apr 19 | 777 x 822 km, 100.9 min, 98°.5 | 17:10 | DMSP 5B F-3 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) | 6275 | 1972-089A | 2024 Apr 19 | 770 x 822 km, 100.8 min, 98°.5 | 17:55 | DMSP 5D-2 F-6 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) | 13736 | 1982-118A | 2024 Apr 19 | 786 x 798 km, 100.7 min, 98°.6 | 17:55 | USA 26 (DMSP 5D-2 F-8) | 18123 | 1987-053A | 2024 Apr 19 | 819 x 836 km, 101.5 min, 98°.7 | 18:34 | AMS 3 (DMSP 5D-1 F-3) | 10820 | 1978-042A | 2024 Apr 19 | 763 x 777 km, 100.2 min, 98°.5 | 19:14 | DMSP 5C F-1 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) | 7411 | 1974-063A | 2024 Apr 19 | 766 x 826 km, 100.8 min, 98°.6 | 19:17 | DMSP 5C F-2 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) | 7816 | 1975-043A | 2024 Apr 19 | 773 x 848 km, 101.1 min, 98°.7 | 20:10 | DMSP 5B F-4 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) | 6787 | 1973-054A | 2024 Apr 19 | 764 x 801 km, 100.5 min, 98°.7 | 20:26 | DMSP 4A F-9 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) | 2920 | 1967-080A | 2024 Apr 19 | 814 x 871 km, 101.8 min, 98°.7 | 20:33 | DMSP 5A F-3 (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program) | 4047 | 1969-062A | 2024 Apr 19 | 762 x 827 km, 100.8 min, 98°.5 | 22:33 | Nimbus 3 (Nimbus B2) | 3890 | 1969-037A | 2024 Apr 19 | 1070 x 1130 km, 107.3 min, 99°.8 | 23:12 | Nimbus 5 (Nimbus E) | 6305 | 1972-097A | 2024 Apr 19 | 1088 x 1099 km, 107.1 min, 99°.9 | 23:29 | Nimbus 6 (Nimbus F) | 7924 | 1975-052A | 2024 Apr 19 | 1101 x 1112 km, 107.4 min, 100°.0 | 23:58 | ESSA 2 | 2091 | 1966-016A | 2024 Apr 19 | 1354 x 1415 km, 113.4 min, 101°.3 |
For the satellites that do not have formal published elements, thanks go to the radio and visual amateur satellite trackers for their observing, and particularly to Mike McCants for archiving the derived orbits.
|
|